The present invention relates to an auxiliary cooling device, which can be used in a cooling device, in particular a domestic refrigerator without frost compartment, to temporarily attain cooling temperatures below a normal operating temperature of the cooling device. In conventional terms a user, wanting to have storage areas with temperatures over and under 0° C. available in a cooling device, must purchase a combination unit or a refrigerator with a so-called 3- or 4-star freezing compartment. Normal cooling compartment and star-rated freezer compartment are cooled by a common refrigerant circuit, whereby however in the star-rated freezer compartment lower evaporator temperatures have to be reached than in the normal cooling compartment. Such a refrigerator therefore has a higher specific power consumption than a comparable unit without star-rated freezer compartment. This is in particular uneconomical if the star-rated freezer compartment is used only occasionally for freezing small quantities.
Many users of a refrigerator also have a freezer, which they use for long-term storage of frozen foodstuffs, and for this purpose they do not a star-rated freezer compartment. Many users nevertheless do not want to dispense with a star-rated freezer compartment so that they can make e.g. ice cubes or quickly cool drinks in it.
For both purposes a freezer is less suitable, on the one hand because of the difficulty in securely placing an ice cube maker therein, and on the other hand, because in the case of drinks there is the risk that they might freeze at temperatures prevalent in the freezer and burst their container. Also, in contrast to a refrigerator the freezer is generally not placed in the immediate living area, so that using the star-rated freezer compartment is simple and just more comfortable.